In the hours following a major 7.0 earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska, a west coast Radio Strike Team was activated to provide operational support for the stations impacted by the disaster. The Strike Team was formed by IHM EVP of Programming Andrew Jeffries in Los Angeles.
Jeffries said, “It’s important we offer available resources to help other markets, especially in times like this. After assessing the needs of our cluster in Anchorage, it was decided to send IHM News Correspondent/KFI-AM Reporter Steve Gregory to help gather crucial information on the ground to augment the cluster’s continuing live local coverage of the earthquake, safety briefings, and cleanup.” Jeffries’ Radio Strike Team is comprised of members from programming, IT, engineering and news ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, whether it’s in person, on the phone or in a live chat.
Gregory was given just a few hours’ notice to travel from his assignment in Arizona to Anchorage. Gregory arrived overnight and began work right away, despite the many aftershocks, some of which reached magnitude 5.2. In addition to helping the local cluster, Gregory filed stories for IHM’s 24/7 News and our news partner, NBC Newsradio. In the days following the quake, Gregory attended press conferences and did live interviews on the air with local hosts.